As the world celebrates the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s
“On the Origin of Species,” some facts on snails and snakes that
would have intrigued him.
Researchers want to transform a poor, remote Dominican town into a
locally owned retreat. But challenges, like hydrilla, an invasive,
choking water plant, await.
The plan will enlist companies and nonprofits, including “Sesame
Street,” to spend money and time to encourage students to pursue
science, technology, engineering and math.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has reported that there is a
"strong association" between homes built with Chinese drywall and
levels of hydrogen sulfide in the indoor air.
The Environmental Protection Agency issued a final rule Monday
aimed at reducing pollution from construction sites, saying that it
will significantly improve the quality of water nationwide.
In 2003, scientists discovered something startling in the Potomac,
from which at least 3 million Washington area residents get their
drinking water: Male fish were growing eggs. But six years later, a
government-led research effort still has no answers.
The EPA has tested Saginaw Bay-area municipal water supplies and
found them free of toxic dioxin, but the soil in a residential area
22 miles downstream from Dow’s Midland complex has been
recontaminated with dioxin.
Last year Mount Isa mother Daphne Hare decided it was time to take
Swiss mining giant Xstrata to court. Hare firmly believes that lead
contamination from the mine's operations contributed to her
seven-year-old daughter Stella's health and developmental problems.
She's not alone.
Breathing in fumes from petrol made lab rats more aggressive, a
finding that has wide implications for urban pollution, according
to a study published on Tuesday.
The readings at this 3 km high station show an upward curve as the
world counts down to climate talks: Global warming gases have built
up to record levels in the atmosphere, from emissions that match
scientists' worst-case scenarios.
The absence of a US target has widely been seen as the single
biggest obstacle to agreement at the Copenhagen summit. The White
House offer will likely be in line with figures in legislation
before the Senate - paltry compared to the EU but enough to be
considered a worthy first step by developing countries.
Nuclear power -- long considered environmentally hazardous -- is
emerging as perhaps the world's most unlikely weapon against
climate change, with the backing of even some green activists who
once campaigned against it.
The coal mine that exploded in northern China, killing 104, had too
many workers underground in an effort to increase output, a
government official said on Monday, exposing the risks often taken
to meet the country's insatiable energy demands.
While Californians worry about the three-year drought dragging on,
researchers say climate change soon could create much longer dry
spells--lasting decades or even centuries. And scientists have
announced the first proof after studying caves along the Sierra
Nevada.
Rebates and low-flow fixtures are helping to ease California's
water woes through water conservation, but now comes the tough
part: individual sacrifice.
Louisiana officials asked the secretary of the federal Department
of Commerce to mediate the state's dispute with the Army Corps of
Engineers over the agency's failure to use most of the sediment it
dredges from the lower Mississippi River each year to rebuild
wetlands.
In the town of Miches in the Dominican Republic, electricity is
erratic, drinking water is contaminated, and nearby rivers are
clogged with an invasive weed that threatens the fish on offshore
reefs. But to a team of biologists, this town has great potential.
While rivers continue to be the heart, soul and pride of major
cities around the world, Delhi's Yamuna has been choked to death
and Kolkata's Hooghly lies abused and neglected.
A large product recall involving a company, Melissa & Doug LLC,
that has built its reputation on its rigorous safety standards is a
blow to parents who helped fuel the boom in demand for all-natural,
chemical-free and wooden toys and other children's products.
Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon's advisers were warned in
August last year that drug company payments to a world-renowned US
expert on ADHD could have tainted proposed new Australian
guidelines for the drug.
After a lethal bird flu virus emerged in Asia, U.S. officials
launched an intense effort to build new defenses against a
pandemic, including replacing an antiquated vaccine system, which
depends on millions of chicken eggs.
Health officials are trying to shift supplies of the seasonal flu
vaccine away from chain pharmacies and supermarkets to nursing
homes--hoping to counter a shortage that threatens to cause a wave
of deaths this winter among the nation’s most vulnerable
population.
While many people are still waiting for swine-flu vaccine to become
available in their area, there is a lot they can do in their own
kitchens to help fight off disease and build a strong immune
system.
A jury awarded $28 million in punitive damages in Pennsylvania
state court Monday to a plaintiff who claimed her use of Pfizer
Inc.'s hormone-therapy drugs caused breast cancer.
Like a meteorologist bracing for a Category 5 hurricane, the chief
virologist for New Jersey’s busiest hospital faces the H1N1 flu
epidemic with a mixed sense of awe, curiosity and weariness.
The pandemic of swine flu may be hitting a peak in the Northern
Hemisphere, global health officials said on Friday, but they
cautioned it was far from over.
The number of H1N1 swine flu deaths in Europe has doubled almost
every two weeks since the middle of October and 169 people died of
the virus in the past week, disease surveillance experts said on
Monday.
Novartis will officially open the first next-generation flu vaccine
plant in the United States on Tuesday, but it will be years before
it makes its first vaccine.
Although health experts say the worst is possibly over, they take a
cautious stance: Flu activity hasn't slowed down, and, in fact, is
higher than in a normal seasonal influenza year.
More than two million Muslims gather this week for the annual haj
pilgrimage to Islam's holy city of Mecca, where Saudi authorities
hope to minimize spread of the H1N1 virus.
NYT > Science